Valve metals such as tantalum and niobium are characterized by a stable oxide coating which imparts useful properties such as corrosion resistance and electrical resistance which make such metals attractive for various applications such as an anode material in electrolytic capacitors and as a material of construction in certain corrosive environments. The oxide coating can be a hindrance in bonding valve metals, e.g. in sintering pressed valve metal powders into a pellet bonded to a valve metal lead wire or lead tab. As finer valve metal powders are used to achieve higher capacitance, lower sintering temperatures are used to prevent excessive loss of surface area from exposure to sintering temperatures. Moreover, as satisfactory particle to particle bonding is achieved in the pressed powder, the particle to lead connection bond can be deficient at lower sintering temperatures allowing the sintered pellet to be readily pulled off of the lead wire or lead tab during fabrication or use of the capacitor.